Yasuaki Kurata

Yasuaki Kurata born March 20 1946 aka David Kurata is a Japanese actor specializing in action movies An accomplished martial artist he has dan ranks in karate 5th degree judo 3rd degree and aikido 2nd degree He is perhaps best known for his extended battle against Jet Li in Fist of Legend and for his villainous role in So Close He is fluent in Cantonese Kuratas home town is Sakuramura Niihari District Ibaraki now part of Tsukuba Having studied performing arts at Nihon University and Toei Theater School he began to work as an actor in the late 1960s In 1971 Kurata made his Hong Kong debut in the Shaw Brothers Studio kungfu movie Angry Guest  Since then he has appeared in numerous other films and TV series within the genre In addition to his work as an actor Kurata runs the stunt agency Kurata Promotion established 1976 under the name Kurata Action Club  teaches at a private college the University of Creation Art Music Social Work  is chief advisor to the All Japan Nunchaku League and in 2004 published a book Hong Kong Action Star Kōyūroku Description above from the Wikipedia article Yasuaki Kurata licensed under CCBYSAfull list of contributors on Wikipedia